Boosting Group Scam

Community General Discussion
1

Reposting this with the personal information removed.

Currently, there is a scamming group in WoW who advertise boosting services via Trade (Services) chat on many different well populated realms (both Alliance and Horde). They offer M+/Raids/ and Jailer/Sylvannas Mounts. Unfortunately, like others, I was caught in one of their scams, but hey, now it’s my turn to warn others, in an attempt, to stop other players from making the same mistake I made

This is by no means a post to complain that I got scammed - I took a risk and there were consequences and I’m fine with that. The intention behind this post is purely to raise awareness of the what is happening to others so they don’t experience the same thing.

How they lure you in:

They start off by advertising in the Trade (Service) chat - impersonating guilds who have cleared Mythic raiding content. Please keep in mind, these guilds have nothing to do with these scammers, and are just being impersonated, and the scammer uses different guild names constantly.

After starting a conversation with them you always get a very low priced service (which would make anyone suspicious). Shortly thereafter, they offer to either add you as a friend on Discord or directly in game using their BNet and provide you with their server’s discord link to ensure you that their service is not a scam (they change the what the landing page’s welcome message says to match the guild they are impersonating. Once you’re in, there are channels where they have multiple in-game screenshots of the services they have allegedly “provided” as well as “customer” reviews. They then proceed to “verify” that they are in fact the person who is talking to you in game and later verify that the payment was received via Discord and in-game chat; this is what makes it all seem legitimate. Shortly after you pay them in game they remove and block you from their Discord server and block you in game.

One off scam? Think again!

Initially, I thought it was a one off scam and decided to just cut my losses and move on, but then, over a week later, my BF sees a similar advertisement on the Alliance and we decide to reach out and see if it was the same group - lo and behold it was.

After confronting one of the scammers, they confessed their scam and told me about how they sold the scammed gold using a third party website

I’m well aware that other players have experienced the same scam, and I invite them to share their experience

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Serves you right.

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:nerd_face:

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Regarding this scam by the op Dàénerys. I was also scammed by the same ‘group’ of people(s).

As per what IS allowed in game, is the following by MVP: Perl.

Such as the OP mentioned, there was an advertisement, of a run by a guild by an individual, gold as payment for said run.

Having no prior knowledge of how much gold the runs go for, it sounded like an ok price.

M-Sylvanas Vengeance Mount, for 900k. I received a b-tag invite, discussion further there, what day/time, etc. To be 10.12.2022, at 10p est, with an invite for the run. As well as a Discord invite to a server with their reputable runs, their reviews and so forth.

I requested that I stay in the discord group, as well as on battletag, & discord list, until the run was over. They said “No biggy it’s ok.” Gold handed over, confirmation of run “M-Sylvanas Vengeance run 10p est, 10.12.2022”, Got an “Yes, you’ll get an invite GL.”.

Mind you after this portion, I did have some errands to run, so upon getting back a little later, come closer to the timeframe of the run, then the time of the run, I don’t get an invite.

I wait, I wait some more, I PM the individual in Discord, (unable to process request you aren’t friends with ____), Check BattleNet (You’re no longer able to contact ________). Was removed from the Discord Group, Discord friend list as well as BattleTag, to correspond with this person. Saw the same individual advertising the following day, I mentioned that I never received the run I requested, no reply, they log off…

So… I am out 900k, for a run that wasn’t fulfilled by the seller, essentially a scam. I, unfortunately took the benefit of the doubt, that, this individual would fulfill their obligation.

SCAM: "A trade of in-game goods and/or services was agreed upon using in game chat, and the other player refused to honor the deal.

While we can’t guarantee that you will recoup your loss, we will investigate and take appropriate action against the offender."

So, to everyone who’s trying to get their S4, M-Sylv., & so forth, be cautious out there… & to the people who go on “serves you right, you deserve to get scammed.”. No I don’t, NO ONE DOES.

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i buy boosts and i always google the guild, and if the guild OR the character doesn’t come up on armory I report the seller. Anyone selling from a level 1 I report (since they have to physically be in the party with you as per Blizz guidance, and clearly a level 1 doesn’t do that). Blizz keep emailing me “action was taken as a result of your report” notices so sounds like something fishy was going on…

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Enough people getting scammed scares people away from wanting to be boosted. Which in itself is a good thing.

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This is why you have the agreement done IN game never a discord. Blizz cannot help you if you go to discord. They can find the in game conversations and prove it. Hope you screenshot the whole chat and sent in a report to blizzard…also don’t trust low level sellers. Google their toon and the guild and get in contact with the REAL guild and verify this person advertising.

There’s so many oversights in this story you should have triple checked and verified everything always in any in game gold transaction in huge sums especially if it’s for something like a carry.

Best of luck

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Do it yourself, don’t rely on random people in trade chat. Besides, if you do it yourself and with a group, you can build friendships and feel accomplished. What’s the point of getting carried in his game? Sure, maybe to impress a friend or to brag. But other than that, there’s no point. It feels great knowing you tried 20 times to kill a boss just to finally kill it. It’s a wonderful beautiful feeling.

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Time = money
+
Keeping up with the Jones effect

If you spend too much time getting something you want while others breeze through (with whatever circumstances), you begin to question your effectiveness. Add in wowtoken to directly correlate how much your in game time+effort would be worth to irl work. And well now you know how we got here.

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Yeah, but still why bother playing if you can’t complete something? It doesn’t feel rewarding getting carried. Like I’m not saying you can’t play, but it’s always better if you can complete something to do it. I have nothing against those that get carried, but if you feel like you can do it then you should.

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You don’t have to preach to me. I declined getting boosted because it felt wrong just so I could get a title like 1400 other players got.

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Like it or not, boosting communities did prevent this, and this was an inevitable outcome of banning them.

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for you, sure. my mother pugged her way to KSM a couple times this expac and of the two of us, I’m not the one with regret; she spends a lot of time hanging off the phone to me complaining about trashed keys, rude pugs, incompetent healers and being abused by players for not playing optimally (she’s a middle aged lady with arthritis playing a high apm melee class). she plays on average two hours a day after work and counts it lucky if she runs two keys in that very limited time.

meanwhile i chuck some very competent players some cash and spend a stress-free fifteen minutes putting together transmog outfits at an instance entrance. you say “it’s always better if you can complete something to do it,” i say “only if you care about it to begin with.” i’ve been very vocal on these forums about not enjoying keys, so i really don’t care about putting in the effort. i do however care about collecting mounts, and if KSM didn’t reward a mount I wouldn’t be there.

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WIth any luck if this happens enough no one will buy boosts ever again, it shouldnt be in the game even if for just gold.

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I’m definitely the “do it yourself” kind of player when it comes to my person achievements, everything I’ve gotten on my account were through my efforts in game. Unfortunately the guild I’m in on my main (despite being able to) just didn’t have enough guildmates who were interested in doing regular (non-fated) mythic Sylvannas. The “do it yourself” only really works if you have a capable, willing, and constant/committed group to ensure everyone gets the mount. I was able to get the Jaina mount in this manner. So with the expansion ending I figured hey, let me try this and see (since I didn’t really have any viable alternatives). Now you may say try to find a group through LFG, I’ve tried, been looking and the groups are few and far between, and even then you have a 1/20 chance for getting the mount unless you stick with the same crew for 20 weeks. It’s the convincing discord that got me, and yes of course I should’ve checked the armory, but I’m well aware that boosters can advertise their services on alts and can link back to a legitimate discord server. That’s where I got trapped, the screenshots of Sylvannas mounts and customer reviews, I cut them some slack in thinking “hey, this looks good.” It does look quite convincing on a surface level.

Regardless of what anyone’s reason is for trying to purchase a boost, boosts are not against the game rules.

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1/10. 2 mounts drop from mythic now.

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Yeah, but here’s the thing, if you get carried through KSM and want to do more keys in the future, same with raiding, then it’s a problem. Because you don’t know the mechanics or how high keys function. Unless you lookit up and such.

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That’s the incorrect assumption. They hate the activity through and through and wouldn’t do it otherwise without rewards.

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Wiping over and over and over during progression raiding totally killed any kind of patience I have for this. I will not feel any more accomplishment on a kill after 20 wipes than I will after the first. People are different and have different tolerance levels. What you might feel accomplishment over, might just be a terrible experience for someone else.

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Scammers gonna scam. If there is a way to exploit anything nowadays someone will try it.

I’m sorry you got scammed.

Don’t pay for carries

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